"The Scent of Jasmine Tea - Tales from the Orient” - the 2026 Story Event Official Support Thread

[Writer61]

I don't have a specific idea yet, but can I check that East Asia includes Indonesia, the Philippines, and Myanmar/Burma?

Mea Culpa.

Chloe's post makes it clear that these countries are in scope

 

[ChloeTzang]

I don't have a specific idea yet, but can I check that East Asia includes Indonesia, the Philippines, and Myanmar/Burma?

Ohhhhh yes it does. I was tossing around doing smething set in the old Dutch East Indies too. Or channeling George Orwell and "Burmese Days," but I settled on somethmng closer to home- my mom's famiy is from Cholon, in Saigon, and one of my great-great grandmothers was half-French, half Vietnamese-Chinese so I am thinking along those lines......

 

[ChloeTzang]

I've just bought four books about Shanghai and Russian immigration into the city in the early 1900s. Not only am I stoked to read them, I'm excited about the ideas I've got stirring so far, so thanks for the killer prompt!

If you don't mind me asking, which are they? I'm always looking to augment my library of books on Shanghai.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Chloe's the arbiter of what's in and what's out. However this is an event, not a contest, so there's no winners. It's just an excuse to challenge ourselves to write stories with a theme.

If you've got ideas and you're not sure whether or how to make them work for this event, feel free to post them here or DM me and we can talk about them. You can always DM Chloe, and she's very approachable.

The offer to help work an idea to fit the theme is open to anyone.

Adding on to that, the main theme is that period / timeframe and that broad colonial setting, but really it's wide open within those very broad guidelines.

 

[spiderboi]

If you don't mind me asking, which are they? I'm always looking to augment my library of books on Shanghai.

Don't mind at all. Listed below:

Shanghai Saga: The Story of a City
Port of Last Resort: The Diaspora Communities of Shanghai
Shanghai : The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City 1842-1949
Policing Shanghai, 1927-1937

I really want this one about the Green Gang, but it's 60 USD, so I'll have to find it at the library lol

 

[ashlorenz]

Shanghai in the 20's or 30's would be a great setting for a hardboiled whodunnit. Or maybe Singapore. Or Thailand

Thanks @ChloeTzang, all good suggestions. Hong Kong is the typical Oriental location for the period I like to write in, but the story in my mind relies on the characters not being able to read Chinese or get easy answers from someone who can, so being set in Hong Kong would spoil the drama. I'll have to think about it.

It's just an excuse to challenge ourselves to write stories with a theme.

Good point. In my mind I want to build a catalog of similar work, but that's probably not as valuable as I believe it to be.

If you've got ideas and you're not sure whether or how to make them work for this event, feel free to post them here or DM me and we can talk about them. You can always DM Chloe, and she's very approachable.

Very cool of you, thanks @TheRedLantern. I need to put some more thought into this one. I'll keep an eye on the thread and see what direction other people are going.

You know when you listen to a playlist and there's one song that doesn't fit and lets the whole thing down? I don't want to be that one bad track.

 

[Writer61]

Well, I think I have my location, time period, and broad outline of the story. In doing so, I have gone down several rabbit holes while researching topics related to the British Army in the First World War, broken legs, quinine, railways in a country (to be revealed), hill stations, and who knows what else.

Meanwhile, I have things that I should be doing.

Damn you, @ChloeTzang , damn you!

 

[ChloeTzang]

.......the British Army in the First World War, broken legs, quinine, railways in a country (to be revealed), hill stations, and who knows what else.

"Plain Tales from the Hills"

Damn you, @ChloeTzang , damn you!

 

[Voboy]

Now I'm regretting I posted this story, which I'd written a couple years ago for the earlier proposed iteration of this same event. I liked it when I wrote it, then sat on it for quite some time before I decided I better spew it out unto the world.

Maybe I can come up with something in the same universe. I'll ponder.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Don't mind at all. Listed below:

Shanghai Saga: The Story of a City
Port of Last Resort: The Diaspora Communities of Shanghai
Shanghai : The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City 1842-1949
Policing Shanghai, 1927-1937

I really want this one about the Green Gang, but it's 60 USD, so I'll have to find it at the library lol

ahhh. I have Shanghaii The Rise and Fall fo a Decadent City
Looks like I will have to go looking for the other three

Also these:
The World’s First SWAT Team: W. E. Fairbairn and the Shanghai Municipal Police Reserve Unit - Leroy Thompson
Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze - Peter Harmsen
Bloody Saturday: Shanghai’s Darkest Day: Penguin Specials: EBook - Paul French
The Old Shanghai A-Z - Paul French
Shanghai’s Dancing World: Cabaret Culture and Urban Politics, 1919–1954 - Andrew David Field
Shanghai Grand: Forbidden Love and International Intrigue in a Doomed World - Taras Grescoe
In Search of Old Shanghai - Pan Ling
Gangsters of Shanghai - Gerry O'Sullivan
City of Devils - Paul French
Secret War in Shanghai: Treachery, Subversion and Collaboration in the Second World War (Tauris Parke Paperbacks) - Bernard Wasserstein
Shanghai Policeman - E. W. Peters
Shanghai - Cricible of Modern China - Betty Peh-T'i Wei

 

[YmaOHyd]

Thanks @ChloeTzang, all good suggestions. Hong Kong is the typical Oriental location for the period I like to write in, but the story in my mind relies on the characters not being able to read Chinese or get easy answers from someone who can, so being set in Hong Kong would spoil the drama. I'll have to think about it.

You could set it in Yokohama, Nagasaki or Busan, with the waitress character as an immigrant. Then you'd potentially have the possibility for three, four or more cultures clashing.

 

[ChloeTzang]

You could set it in Yokohama, Nagasaki or Busan, with the waitress character as an immigrant. Then you'd potentially have the possibility for three, four or more cultures clashing.

Or even Taiwan (Formosa), which was Japanese back then

 

[YmaOHyd]

Or even Taiwan (Formosa), which was Japanese back then

Or Tsushima -- talk about an interesting blend of cultures. A Japanese-held island with its own indigenous culture, a semi-official border zone with Korea, a Russian attempt to establish a naval base thwarted by the British and Dutch.

 

[spiderboi]

ahhh. I have Shanghaii The Rise and Fall fo a Decadent City
Looks like I will have to go looking for the other three

Also these:
The World’s First SWAT Team: W. E. Fairbairn and the Shanghai Municipal Police Reserve Unit - Leroy Thompson
Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze - Peter Harmsen
Bloody Saturday: Shanghai’s Darkest Day: Penguin Specials: EBook - Paul French
The Old Shanghai A-Z - Paul French
Shanghai’s Dancing World: Cabaret Culture and Urban Politics, 1919–1954 - Andrew David Field
Shanghai Grand: Forbidden Love and International Intrigue in a Doomed World - Taras Grescoe
In Search of Old Shanghai - Pan Ling
Gangsters of Shanghai - Gerry O'Sullivan
City of Devils - Paul French
Secret War in Shanghai: Treachery, Subversion and Collaboration in the Second World War (Tauris Parke Paperbacks) - Bernard Wasserstein
Shanghai Policeman - E. W. Peters
Shanghai - Cricible of Modern China - Betty Peh-T'i Wei

I'm looking forward to The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City. I'll bump it up to number two on the reading list once I get through Shanghai Saga if you recommend it

I'm going to end up with so many story ideas, I won't even know what to do with them all

 

[nice90sguy]

@ChloeTzang Ive never entered a story competition here. I've already submitted a story that would work as an entry. Is it possible to "re-title" it to make it an entry, or is that cheating? i.e. can I use an old story of mine?

 

[YmaOHyd]

I don't expect I'll write anything for this, and if I do it'll be last-minute and sloppy and only barely within-scope, but I'm happy to throw some random ideas out for people, if they want them.

 

[YmaOHyd]

That was going to be the title of my next stroker, but you can have it if it gets you to participate

I was thinking it could be the title of my sex tape.

 

[Writer61]

Story finished, a mere eight months early.

But I have a problem. I can see a follow-up story. Is it allowed to submit the first part of a series as an entry in the event?

 

[SmilingLez]

Another fun challenge. Ever since reading your post I have been been diddling with chokas


Jasmine tea wafts slow,
Soft notes dancing in the air,
Petals whisper sweet,
Warm steam curls around my heart,
A calming, fragrant embrace.

Moonlight spills like silk,
In the quiet of the night,
Thoughts drift and entwine,
Each sip a gentle caress,
Lingering whispers of bliss.

Sip by delicate sip,
Memories steeped in warmth's glow,
Laughter fills the room,
With jasmine's sweet, soothing scent,
Time slows in this precious space.

 

[Voboy]

Now I'm regretting I posted this story, which I'd written a couple years ago for the earlier proposed iteration of this same event. I liked it when I wrote it, then sat on it for quite some time before I decided I better spew it out unto the world.

Maybe I can come up with something in the same universe. I'll ponder.

I have pondered. I think I have something here.

 

[Writer61]

Almost certainly. This is an event, not a contest. And it sounds like you've got 8 months so maybe you could finish the followup and release both together.

How would that work? Could both parts still be in a series?

 

[ChloeTzang]

How would that work? Could both parts still be in a series?

You can do a series- as long as it's not a chapter. It needs to be a complete story in and of itself, but that story can be part of a series

 

[Voboy]

I'm happy to hear that! Since you knew about Chloe's first run at this event and wrote a story for it, I felt like this event would be better with your participation.

I'm already realizing I'm biting off quite a bit. I like these kinds of stories to be accurate as fuck, so now I'm trying to figure out how I can have a British/Australian mandate border a Japanese mandate in the Straits of Malacca, which didn't happen. That's fine, but I want to have a way that it could have happened.

 

[Writer61]

You can do a series- as long as it's not a chapter. It needs to be a complete story in and of itself, but that story can be part of a series

We are talking about episodes in a series. The story I would submit would stand on its own, but it might have a sequel.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I'm already realizing I'm biting off quite a bit. I like these kinds of stories to be accurate as fuck, so now I'm trying to figure out how I can have a British/Australian mandate border a Japanese mandate in the Straits of Malacca, which didn't happen. That's fine, but I want to have a way that it could have happened.

How historical does this concept need to be? What if Japan doesn't close itself off in the 1600s and by the late 1700s/early 1800s, it's the Britain of the East?